The present invention relates to the neural device field, and more specifically to a new and useful neuromodulation transfection system in the neural device field.
Various research and clinical neuroscience applications may involve a combination of different techniques for perturbing neural circuits and measuring the circuit's response. Stimulation may be electrical such as with conductive electrode sites, or may be optical such as with optogenetic tools. Such neurostimulation is typically sensed and/or recorded with electrical neurosensing. In particular, optogenetics is a developing technique that uses light-sensitive ion channels for optical stimulation of neural tissue, which allows experimenters or medical practitioners to selectively excite and/or silence particular neural channels with high precision. To create such light sensitive ion channels, the user performs a surgery in which an opsin such as ChR2 or Halorhodospin (e.g. delivered in the form of a protein or as a nucleotide for example using a viral vector) is introduced into target tissue, generally with cell-type specificity.
To optically stimulate or inhibit the neurons containing light-sensitive ion channels, an additional surgery is required to introduce an optical stimulator, electrical stimulator, and/or neurosensing components. In other words, the combined use of all these conventional neuroscience techniques requires multiple separate surgeries and/or implants, and every additional procedure or implant increases the difficulty of spatially co-locating the biologic agents, optical light source, neurosensing components, and other components such as drug delivery devices for therapeutic agents. Furthermore, performing multiple surgical procedures may risk creating complications for a patient or other subject.
Thus, there is a need in the neural device field to create a new and useful neuromodulation transfection system.